About Camilla Dowse

Urban areas are busy and densely populated. They’re places we mostly hurry through and rarely stop to consider. Working mainly in acrylic on gesso panels my impressionistic urban landscapes are an invitation to look beyond the fast pace of life and explore the beauty of the built environment. Like the subjects I paint, my work is constructed, from the wood surface to the layers of traditionally mixed gesso which are sanded to a smooth finish before applying saturated colour to carve areas of light and shadow. By removing the transient elements that are a feature of urban living I hope to create a theatrical impression with narrative potential. Inspired by Hitchcock, film noir and especially the technicolour set of 'Rear Window' my architectural paintings suggest a sense of suspense, the feeling of something just about to happen...

Camilla studied graphic design at the Berkshire College of Art and for a number of years, alongside her art practice, worked as a picture editor for many of the major book publishers. Her work has been selected for exhibition by the New English Art Club, the Bath Art Society, the Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, the Society of Women Artists, the ING Discerning Eye, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the RA Summer Exhibition.